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Battle of Courtrai (1918)
* Newfoundland * | combatant2 = * * * * * | commander1 = King Albert I Jean Degoutte Herbert Plumer | commander2 = Erich Ludendorff Crown Prince Rupprecht Sixt von Armin Ferdinand von Quast | strength1 = | strength2 = | casualties1 = Unknown | casualties2 = Unknown losses, 12,000 soldiers captured, 550 artillery pieces captured. }} The Battle of Courtrai (also known as the Second Battle of Belgium ( ) and the Battle of Roulers ( )) was one of a series of offensives in northern France and southern Belgium that took place in late September and October 1918. Background After the Fifth Battle of Ypres and the successful breaking of the Hindenburg Line further south, the Allies conceived a strategy of pursuing the Germans for as long as possible, before movement was stopped by the winter rains. Mud and a collapse of the supply-system had stopped the advance of the (G.A.F.) ending the Fifth Battle of Ypres ( ). By mid-October the GAF (comprising twelve Belgian divisions, ten divisions of the British Second Army) and six divisions of the French Sixth Army, under the command of King Albert I of Belgium with the French General Degoutte as Chief of Staff, was ready to resume the offensive. Battle The offensive began at on 14 October, with an attack by the GAF from the Lys river at Comines northwards to Dixmude. The British creeping barrage advanced at a rate of per minute, much faster and much further than the practice in 1917, in expectation that there would be little resistance from German infantry. By the evening the British forces had reached high ground which dominated Werviq, Menin and Wevelghem in the south; further north the British captured Morslede and closed up to Gulleghem and Steenbeek. Belgian troops on the left reached Iseghem, French troops surrounded Roulers and more Belgian troops captured Cortemarck. Roulers fell the next day and by 16 October the British held the north bank of the Lys up to Harlebeke and had crossed the river at several points. By 17 October Thourout, Ostend, Lille and Douai had been recaptured; Bruges and Zeebrugge fell by 19 October and the Dutch border was reached the following day. The crossing of the Lys and the capture of Courtrai by the British Second Army on 19 October, led to a German retreat on the front of the Fifth Army further south, which encircled Lille on 18 October. Next day the British were in Roubaix and Tourcoing and by the evening of 22 October the British had reached the Scheldt from Valenciennes to Avelghem. Aftermath By the time the Armistice had been signed, the front-line had advanced an average of and ran from Terneuzen, to Ghent, along the River Scheldt to Ath and from there to Saint-Ghislain where it linked up with the BEF on the Somme. See also * Battle of Courtrai (disambiguation), for other battles with this name Footnotes References * |title=Sir Douglas Haig's Despatches |last=Boraston |first=J. H. |year=1919 |publisher=Dent |location=London | edition=1920 |oclc=633614212}} * |title=Military Operations France and Belgium 1918 Volume V 26th September – 11th November The Advance to Victory|last1=Edmonds |first1=J. E. |last2=Maxwell-Hyslop |first2=R. |year=1947 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |edition=IWM & Battery Press 1993 |isbn=0-89839-192-X}} * |title=Amiens to the Armistice: The BEF in the Hundred Day's Campaign, 8 August – 11 November 1918 |last1=Harris |first1=J. P. |last2=Barr |first2=N. |year=1998 |publisher=Brasey's |location=London |isbn=1-85753-149-3}} * |title=The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army |last=Sheffield | first=G. |year=2011 |publisher=Aurum Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-84513-691-8}} External links * The Hundred Days, 18 July-11 November 1918 * Situation au Debut D'Octobre 1918 (in French) * CWGC Map, Victory offensive 1918 Courtrai (1918) Courtrai (1918) Courtrai (1918) Courtrai (1918) Courtrai (1918) Category:Conflicts in 1918 Category:1918 in Belgium Category:Ypres Salient Category:Battle honours of the King's Royal Rifle Corps